Ben Folds is set to tour the U.S. throughout November in support of Lonely Avenue, concluding the dates with a performance at New York City’s fabled Beacon Theatre on December 14. The tour also includes a Thanksgiving weekend homecoming performance at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center to benefit the Nashville Symphony. Folds has designated that in addition to benefitting the Symphony, a portion of the proceeds from his November 27 show at Tennessee Performing Arts Center will go to two volunteer firefighting organizations in the Middle Tennessee region. “The flood happened in a matter of hours, but digging out of it will take years,” Folds notes. “This concert is an effort to help keep the recovery in the front of our minds and to help restore our great symphony hall, which was severely damaged. Of course, a donation to our first responders like our volunteer firefighters is in order too, because without them the Middle Tennessee community would have lost so much more.” Please see below for a list of tour dates.

In addition to the new record and tour, Folds is set to embark on his second season as a judge on NBC’s a cappella competition The Sing-Off. Set to begin airing on December 6, the successful series will reward America’s best a cappella group with a Sony Music recording contract and $100,000.
The idea to create an album of Folds’ unique pop songwriting sensibilities with Hornby’s insightful prose was conceived during a dinner conversation between the two friends one night in 2009. After that, Hornby began regularly emailing lyrics to Folds, who then turned them into Lonely Avenue’s 11 musical short stories. The songs touch on subject matter ranging from a mother with a child in the hospital over New Year’s Eve to the work of Doc Pomus, lyricist of countless ’50s and ’60s pop hits.

In addition to their album Lonely Avenue, Hornby and Folds, the latter of whom is known for using the Internet as a creative instrument, recently collaborated with YouTube sensation Pomplamoose on a song titled “Things You Think” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G5JaicYuVU), which has garnered over half a million views since its release. Additionally, British YouTube phenomenon Charlie McDonnell made a video for the song “Saskia Hamilton” which has amassed over half a million views in less than two weeks and ranked as the most discussed video on YouTube. The video can be streamed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JP5lUN_4Eo.